School records shattered as Ball State completes Jim Green Invitational

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ball State's Charity Griffith and MaQuila Norman set indoor program records to highlight the weekend as the Cardinals took part in the Jim Green Invitational, hosted by Kentucky.

Griffith set the record in the high jump after clearing 6-0 1/2, which broke Regan Lewis' mark of 5-11 1/4 (2017). Norman set the 300m record at 39.60, besting Yvonne Ferguson's time of 39.61 (2005).

"When you look at a place like Ball State and the athletes who have come before, the record boards are not false records; they're very competitive records," Cardinals head coach Adrian Wheatley said. "For Charity to have an opportunity to be the highest high jumper in school history speaks a lot for what she's done and what we've done as far as a program moving forward and laying the groundwork for what we want to do.

"Having Q (MaQuila Norman) end up breaking the 300m record by .01 was pretty special. She came back and told me she thought she broke the record. She knew what she wanted to do, and to have that goal in her mind of going after it and getting it is a special accomplishment.

"At the of the day, these are great milestones, but we still have a lot to do. This is setting the groundwork for what we want to do and what we want to accomplish. We're still working towards the MAC and beyond and putting people in the right positions to succeed when we get there. Having those two young ladies do that is a great springboard into that campaign."

In addition to the program records, Ball State had a plethora of individuals setting personal bests.

Two runners set personal bests in the 200-meter dash in Jennah Rogers (25.97) and Aaleiah Winford (25.45).

Carly Spletzer and Jessica Velez opened up with their indoor careers in the 3,000-meter run with times of 10:25.12 and 11:04.72, respectively.

Both Moriah Johnson and Makensie Kramer advanced from prelims to the semifinals in their respective events. Johnson ran a 7.78 in the 60-meter dash, while Kramer ran a 9.03 in the 60-meter hurdles.

In addition, Payton Barlow took first in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:33.84.

The 4x400-meter relay quartet of Alexis Thigpen, Norman, Karlie Zumbro and Barlow placed third and crossed the line in a time of 3:47.06, besting the time posted in the previous meet by one second. The relay missed second play by just .06 second.

"It was a great weekend," Wheatley added. "When you have an opportunity to come race against people that you may not get to see on a regular basis, it's good to see them compete. It's a dress rehearsal for the big show. We want to make sure that we can go through, learn and grow from each meet and each race to put us in the best position to be ready for the MAC.

"We're going to continue to find out more about who our team is, what we're made of and how we're going to continue to progress. We're buying into that and understanding what it takes to be a championship program."

School records shattered as Ball State completes Jim Green Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Payton Barlow

Charity Griffith

Moriah Johnson

Makensie Kramer

MaQuila Norman

Jennah Rogers

Carly Spletzer

Alexis Thigpen

Jessica Velez

Aaleiah Winford

Karlie Zumbro